


Like a Bullet to the Head

by blakefancier



Series: Young Lovers [58]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Domestic Violence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 12:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6753769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/pseuds/blakefancier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah loved her husband, but she learned a lot of hard lessons from their marriage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Bullet to the Head

**Author's Note:**

> A slight interlude in the plot.

Sarah Grant fell in love with Joseph Rogers when they were both 16 years old. He had broad shoulders, clear blue eyes, and a smile that made her weak in the knees. She loved him from the first moment she met him and the love was deep and pure and all consuming.

Some nights Sarah despaired that her son learned to love like her.

They married at eighteen, a few weeks before Joe shipped off, and she cried for days. Cried until she couldn't cry anymore. 

He came back to her a year later, his knee mangled, waking her with his screams, his breath ragged with tears. She learned to ignore the smell of alcohol on his breath because she loved him. 

"I love you," he whispered onto her skin. "I love you, I need you, I love you."

Her love was deep and all consuming and when she learned that she carried his child inside of her, she cried. 

***** 

Joe only hit her once. 

*****

She was exhausted, so damn exhausted. Steve was in the hospital with pneumonia so she split her days between hospital, class, and the coffee shop. What little time she had left was spent wondering how the hell they were going to pay for Steve's medical expenses. 

When she got home that night, the apartment was filthy, the casserole she'd made the night before was still in the freezer, and Joe was on the couch, drunk. Again.

Something inside of her snapped. Sarah started to scream at him and he… they both had such horrible tempers and she remembered... Sarah grabbed the whiskey bottle out of his hand and threw it again the wall. 

"You're a good for nothing drunk," she screamed. And—

Joe backhanded her.

She staggered back from the blow, momentarily blindsided by the pain. He stared at her, eyes wide in shock. Sarah could feel her cheek begin to swell and she stumbled out of the apartment in fear and anger. 

It wasn't until she was outside on the street that she realized she'd forgot her purse. Not that I mattered; she had nowhere to go. She couldn’t go to her parents and listen to their 'I told you so.' She was too ashamed to go to her friends. 

She wound up in an all night diner. The waitress brought her an ice pack and a cup of coffee and let her cry in a corner booth without making one comment.

When Sarah got home the next morning, Joe was passed out on the couch. The forty she had in her purse, that was supposed to last them until their next paycheck, was gone. 

*****

"I'm sorry," he cried. "I'm so sorry. I'll never do it again. Sarah, please. I'll stop drinking, I promise." 

*****

"I'll stop drinking, I promise." 

***** 

"I'll stop." 

***** 

"I promise." 

****** 

Eventually, she learned to stop believing him. She learned to hide her wallet and keep quiet about any extra money she might have. She learned you could love someone and still stay up half the night praying that they don't come home until after you and your son have gone for the day. 

*****

Then one day, Joe didn't come home. She called his friends, she called the bars where he liked to drink, and finally, she called the police. 

He died in a bar fight. She told Steve it was a car accident; it was as good a lie as any. 

***** 

Sarah loved Joe. She would always love him, but it was a love that came with so many hard lessons. When she looked at Howard, who always seemed to have a glass of booze in his hand, she wanted to scream. She wanted to tell Steve to run, that Howard would only lie, that he would break Steve's heart. 

But Steve was like her. 

His love was deep and all consuming and sometimes, at night, she cried for him.


End file.
